Robyn's 14 Year Gallery

Robyn is such a fun sassy chica. I love being around her and I enjoy all her many talents. She is responsible and intelligent. She is an amazing musician and it is a joy to hear her play. In general, I just enjoy being around her. She reminds me a lot of myself, sarcasm and all. Which is good to know that I would have been friends with myself. (Sometimes I wonder.)

Here are some fun pictures of this girly.

We went for treats afterward, which led to weirdies, because those are Robyn's favorites.

Always looking our best.

Music in the Parks 2018

Music in the parks is a huge event that everyone looks forward to all year. In fact, last year when I chaperoned, the band teacher asked if I could go again the next year and she gave me the dates. (That is planning ahead.)

As a reminder of what Music in the Parks is:

Orchestra, Band, and Choir all go to schools and perform.

They are judged and they do their best.

Many other schools come and perform and are judged as well.

Then EVERYONE goes to Lagoon, which is the main reason everyone came in the first place.

At an appointed time, the schools meet at a Pavilion at Lagoon and awards are given.

Hurrah!

This year I went with the band again, but this time Robyn was with me. And by with me, she wasn't in my chaperone group or even on my bus, but I knew where she was at all times and when we got to Lagoon, it was easy to meet up.

But first they went to perform. I missed one performance because there was a mixup with the tickets. They sent our tickets to the wrong school, so I went to pick them up. There would be a boatload of unhappy kids if we couldn't go to Lagoon afterward.

I was able to watch Jazz band though. There were a couple groups that went before them. One group was from Oregon and another from Idaho. I was surprised how far people came. One group had the strangest uniforms. Some groups wear similar clothes, or all black. Other groups have matching outfits. This particular group had matching hoodies! That seems crazy. First, sweatshirts don't scream professional, but the heat! I would think it would be super sweaty to play in a hoody. They did have a cute saying across the back. It said, "The best things in life come with strings attached." Ah, orchestra humor.

While waiting between numbers, I gave Radi a star tattoo. Just like his mom. :)

Robyn and I arrived at Lagoon and immediately got down to business. Cannibal, the Spider, the Skyride, and selfies.

June arrived a bit later. (Orchestra was the slowest group.) We met up with Christina and Kat, her older sister. And that formed our group of fun. We had a blast. We went around and did tons of fun rides and we played the Costco game almost the entire time.

It was busy at the park but not too bad. Sometimes there were no lockers. But there is always somewhere to put your things. Especially in front of one of those signs that says not to leave things.

The River Rapids were awesome. Christina and Kat got stuck under the waterfall. They were soaked. But it was a nice day so everyone dried eventually.

The awards ceremony was great. Our school won pretty much everything. We got first in everything, whether it was choir, orchestra, jazz band, or symphonic band. The trophies just kept pouring in. The kids were so loud and excited.

Here is the band/jazz all together. They got top ratings. Aiden won an award for best jazz solo, but they said his name wrong. They called him Adam. So everyone chanted, 'Adam, Adam' as he went up to get his award. What a great group of kids.

After awards, we got one more selfie with the roller coaster in the background. Which ironically is the ride that made me feel sick. I don't mind going upsidedown on Colossus, but it makes my head hurt. Not to self...skip that one next time.

It was a great day. I got to talk to the Gillman's on my bus. (They were the other chaperones.) We had a newer bus-driver who made everything interesting, including lots of hard stops and random side trips. June stayed later at the park, but Robyn was exhausted by the end of the night. And she was sick the next day. I think her allergies kicked in big time.

But it was a great day and it was fun to see some of the trophies on display at school. All these kids are really good musicians (and singers for the choir students). Good job gang!

Racing Snails

We sure love snails around our house. Big, small, we take them all. In fact, we found the smallest baby snail ever. These pictures don't even do it justice, but he (she?) was the cutest.

The snails are all over the place after a good rain. I found one at the top of the screen door.

One day, I was quite busy and was trying to get everyone out the door. Pearl came and said she had seen eight or nine snails in the yard. She wanted me to come see them. I did not have time to spy out so many snails, but Pearl was quite insistent. And when we walked outside she told me they were all in one place. In one place? Snails don't usually congregate... But look what I found.

Apparently the snails were having a race. Towards a bush. (I'm pretty sure Pearl just put them down like that, but it was so funny because they were all trucking in the same direction. Well, as much as snails can truck.)

I wonder if Pearl put the one snail down with the leaves? I did feel sorry for him. He was already in last place and he had an obstacle.

Check out these two guys. They were almost neck and neck. I'm not sure how aware snails are of each other. But I'm pretty sure these two are in a fight to the finish.

In fact, when the little one got in the way, he was trampled like some many pearls before swine.

One finally got to the bushes. I'm not sure if he was happy with his finish line, but we declared him the winner. 

And yes, I was late to my next appointment, but it was totally worth it. Thanks Pearl. Our next thrilling adventure will be watching paint dry. Don't miss it...

April Flew In and Out

Hello.

Enjoying the Spring? It won't be here for long.

Summer is rushing up to us. School's execution is imminent.

Let's go back for a minute and see how much fun we had last month.

Robyn is intent on catching up to me in height. She isn't quite there, although from this picture, she sure looks close. I think I still have an inch on her.

We have taken up game nights on Sundays. This particular night we had a crowd. Allie wore her helmet and didn't take it off the whole time. I guess it can get pretty rough at game night.

I found this fun little photo shoot on my phone. Check out the last one. Robyn is quite the beauty.

Don't worry Granny V. We made sure to get our flip flops. Such fun designs this year. This picture makes me so happy.

My mom was in town over Spring Break. It was so fun. It went fast and we were sad to see her go. Ivory took her to the airport with me. Three generations.

Tyler has been working very hard recently. (Well, he always works hard.) He fell asleep with the pillow and I couldn't help myself to add some embellishment.

June and I went to the pet store one day so she could get more animal encounters. There was this funny ferret that was sleeping, but it looked like it was dead. I had to go close to see that it was breathing. It takes a certain variety to sleep in such a position. I think I have seen Ivory like this before...

Love this silhouette picture. Robyn was reading after her piano lesson. She and Daisy take turns. I think it is lovely.

A couple of the girls had curls when they were little. Robyn and June still have the wispies that curl when their hair is wet. Here is a ringlet at the base of Robyn's neck. So adorable. She is not a fan of my adoration.

Track was fun this year. Check out this picture of Warren killing it in the 50 meter. He was always a few body lengths ahead.

June did a good job in distance, but she didn't have much improvement because she was nursing her shin splints most of the time. She actually made it to Alpine Days, but she was sick when it was time to run. I did not let her. And so track ended.

Mid April, we were still getting flurries of snow. It didn't stick, but it was still cold. Ironically, even on good days it sometimes looks like this because of the cotton in the air.

Robyn and I had our date in April. I was a little behind on dates, but no one seems to mind a date on an unscheduled day. We went and did the Ropes Course and Robyn creamed me in air hockey after. We finished the date with some Menchie's.

Teen Author Boot Camp happened. It is such a great experience for the girls, if not a bit expensive. June is well into writing her first book, and Robyn starts a new one at least once a month. I think it is good to use their creative juices and write. And there are plenty of books to look at and learn from.

Look at these cute girls.

It was fun. When I dropped them off in the morning, there was a guy staggering around dressed like Jack Sparrow. He did a pretty good rendition. Then in the evening, when I picked them up, he was redressed as another famous character. Recognize? He was so nice to take a picture with the girls. You could tell that he was running through his lines. (He did very well when he went back in and sang. Mr. Jackman would be proud.

Here is some Pip love.

She is quite the princess. She just lays around all day and is picked up by one girl after the other. It must be exhausting.

More Pip love.

One day in church, I learned that I can't cross my fingers. Well, I can cross the regular ones, but I can't cross my pinky. (At least not without using my other hand or something else.) Apparently all my kids can cross their pinky. I spent an hour trying to cross my pinky to no avail.

And then somehow we got talking about eyes and Robyn can only cross one eye. What? It is weird. And I know that in the past she could cross two. I have proof. Regardless, check out the weird one eye cross.

Found these two working on a puzzle one Sunday afternoon. Warms the cockles of my heart. (I actually dislike that phrase. I don't want any cockles in my heart. I guess cockles are ventricles, so I do need them, but still...)

Stopped by the library to drop off books. They had their tulips in bloom and it was so beautiful.

Ivory also went to boot camp, but for tweens, not for teens. Luckily, it costs less.

More game nights. We are going to miss Ben, he left on his mission recently.

We made kebabs one night for a special dinner that someone bought at the scout auction. Tyler had the girls help make them. Look at the faces. Amazing.

And finally, one FHE, we took a drive and ended up at the temple. It is really pretty at night. It was a good way to end April.